his name is barack obama. i know this sounds odd, but i just had this strange feeling that he could be president of the united states some day. and i always joke, now i take betty lou to the track with me whenever i go. >> when obama ran in 2004 for the united states senate, david axelrod signed on as his media adviser. the little-known candidate with the unusual name defeated a half dozen rivals to win the democratic nomination. >> thank you! >> obama's come-from-behind victory won him wide attention. he soon got a call to deliver the keynote at the democratic national convention. >> and as soon as he hung up, he said, i know what i want to say. i want to wrap my story in the larger american story. and for the next three weeks, he was writing on little scraps of paper wherever he went, in between campaign stops. and he pulled it all together. >> the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states. red states for republicans, blue states for democrats. but i've got news for them too.